Drinking alcohol key to living past 90

When it comes to making it into your 90s, booze actually beats exercise, according to a long-term study.

The research, led by University of California neurologist Claudia Kawas, tracked 1,700 nonagenarians enrolled in the 90+ Study that began in 2003 to explore impacts of daily habits on longevity.

Researchers discovered that subjects who drank about two glasses of beer or wine a day were 18% less likely to experience a premature death, the Independent reports.

Meanwhile, participants who exercised 15 to 45 minutes a day, cut the same risk by 11%.

“I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity,” Kawas stated over the weekend at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual conference in Austin, Texas.

Other factors were found to boost longevity, including weight. Participants who were slightly overweight — but not obese — cut their odds of an early death by 3%.

“It’s not bad to be skinny when you’re young but it’s very bad to be skinny when you’re old,” Kawas noted in her address.

Subjects who kept busy with a daily hobby two hours a day were 21% less likely to die early, while those who drank two cups of coffee a day cut that risk by 10%.

When it comes to making it into your 90s, booze actually beats exercise, according to a long-term study.

The research, led by University of California neurologist Claudia Kawas, tracked 1,700 nonagenarians enrolled in the 90+ Study that began in 2003 to explore impacts of daily habits on longevity.

Researchers discovered that subjects who drank about two glasses of beer or wine a day were 18% less likely to experience a premature death, the Independent reports.

Meanwhile, participants who exercised 15 to 45 minutes a day, cut the same risk by 11%.

“I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity,” Kawas stated over the weekend at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual conference in Austin, Texas.

Other factors were found to boost longevity, including weight. Participants who were slightly overweight — but not obese — cut their odds of an early death by 3%.

“It’s not bad to be skinny when you’re young but it’s very bad to be skinny when you’re old,” Kawas noted in her address.

Subjects who kept busy with a daily hobby two hours a day were 21% less likely to die early, while those who drank two cups of coffee a day cut that risk by 10%.

So at slightly overweight , two draft beers with any lunch or dinner out and at least two cups of coffee every morning and piddling around with my hobbies at least more than two hours a day , five days per week , I am in great shape . Good news , LOL

Of course, correlation does necessarily mean causation, but if you have a common factor, a common denominator that shows up, then it implies it is a causal factor.

Not really. Lots of old dead people- to the rate of tens of millions- dyed their hair. Did hair dyeing lead to their death? Of course not. Are they correlated? Certainly. As for your actual post the scientist herself says:

“I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity,” Kawas stated

That sounds less like sciences and more like faith to me. And while thos etwo are not opposed ideas, something taking on a "firm belief" is not something proven with fact.

Not really. Lots of old dead people- to the rate of tens of millions- dyed their hair. Did hair dyeing lead to their death? Of course not. Are they correlated?

That's not a valid comparison.

A valid comparison would be a study where old people who dyed their hair died younger than people who didn't, and the claim was that dying your hair causes you to die younger.

If that is due to correlation rather than causation, then you still have to figure out what dying hair correlates with that causes premature death in order to prove it is correlation and not causation. Otherwise it is just evidence that dying your hair may lead to premature death.

"Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

"Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

I have known and am related to my fair share of people in their 90's and 100's. All of them drank, smoked, and used coffee. I want to start drinking again if I know I am on my last leg but maybe I should start sooner rather than later. But I am not real fond of beer or wine.

I have known and am related to my fair share of people in their 90's and 100's. All of them drank, smoked, and used coffee. I want to start drinking again if I know I am on my last leg but maybe I should start sooner rather than later. But I am not real fond of beer or wine.

"Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

"Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

I have known and am related to my fair share of people in their 90's and 100's. All of them drank, smoked, and used coffee. I want to start drinking again if I know I am on my last leg but maybe I should start sooner rather than later. But I am not real fond of beer or wine.

Try Cider,,

An Apple a Day.

Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
Ron Paul 2004

Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
Ron Paul 2004

Image you posted is of guy in a robe. Why are you promoting Islam? Since you are Muslim you have to go back to your own country.

Originally Posted by Anti Federalist

Image you posted is obviously a jihadist. Why are you promoting Islam? Since you are Muslim you have to go back to your own country.

Originally Posted by Working Poor

I have known and am related to my fair share of people in their 90's and 100's. All of them drank, smoked, and used coffee. I want to start drinking again if I know I am on my last leg but maybe I should start sooner rather than later. But I am not real fond of beer or wine.

Muslims aren't fond of beer or wine either. Why are you promoting Islam? Since you are Muslim you have to go back to your own country.

Originally Posted by pcosmar

Try Cider,,

An Apple a Day.

Muslims eat apples too. Why are you promoting Islam? Since you are Muslim you have to go back to your own country.

"ideas have the potential of being more powerful than any army....The concept of personal sovereignty was pulled screaming from the ether into this reality by the force of men believing in a self evident truth, that men are meant to be free." - The Northbreather

"Trump is the security blanket of aggrieved white men aged 18-60." - Pinoy

Correlation still implying causation, apparently. Even though people still spend 12+ years in school.

Guess the fact that that French woman who lived the longest, who smoked her whole life, indicates we should all start smoking to boost our longevity.

She had a very unusual routine:

"After her admission to the care home Maison du Lac [House on the Lake] in January 1985 at the age of 109, she initially had a highly ritualized daily routine whereby, uniquely among the care home residents, she requested to be woken at 6:45 am and started the day with a long prayer at her window thanking God for being alive and for the beautiful day which was starting, sometimes loudly asking the reason for her longevity and why she was the only one alive in her family. Seated on her armchair she did gymnastics wearing her stereo headset. Her exercises included flexing and extending the hands ("a distinguished woman must have beautiful hands"), then the legs, and her carers noted that she moved faster than the other residents, who were 30 years younger, despite her blindness. Her breakfast consisted of coffee with milk, and rusks.Her morning ablutions included washing herself unassisted with a flannel rather than taking a shower ("an odd invention"), and applying first soap, then olive oil and powder to her face. She washed her own glass and cutlery before proceeding to lunch. She enjoyed daube (braised beef) but was not keen on boiled fish. After the meal she smoked a Dunhill cigarette (formerly a cigar, a habit she had acquired from her husband) and drank a small amount of Port wine. She enjoyed chocolate (and at the age of 112 received a delivery of 800 kilogrammes after challenging a TV presenter – this was then distributed to care homes), and made herself daily a fruit salad based on banana slices and squeezed orange.

In the afternoon she would take a nap for two hours in her armchair, and then visit her neighbours in the care home, telling them about the latest news she had heard on the radio. At nightfall she would dine quickly, return to her room, listen to music (her eyesight now being too poor for her favorite pastime of crosswords), smoke a last cigarette and go to bed at 10pm."

I have known and am related to my fair share of people in their 90's and 100's. All of them drank, smoked, and used coffee. I want to start drinking again if I know I am on my last leg but maybe I should start sooner rather than later. But I am not real fond of beer or wine.

I dislike all alcoholic drinks. I could never swallow more than a sip. It tastes awful! I just can't get myself to like even the sweetest of wines. I don't drink it at all and don't care to acquire that taste.

There are other lifestyle and genetic factors that play a role in longevity and are far more influential.